Improvement in mail-bags



2 Sheets--Sheet1.

H. Gauss.

Mail-Bags.

o-UTNzs-nm PARK PLAcE,N Y

H. GROSS.

N0.l52,946. Patentedluly 14,1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY GROSS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JOSEPH L. HALL, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IQN MAIL-BAGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,946, dated July 14,1874; application filed April 4, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY GROSS, of Oincinnati, Hamilton county, State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Impromment in Mail-Bags, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to devices for fastening the flap of a mailbag; and my invention consists in a series of metallic sockets and hooks secured to the body of the bag and its fastening-strap, respectively, which, when connected, will serve to secure the flap of the bag effectually yet flexibly, and in such a way that the bag may be roughly used without endangering or injuring the fastening, and in such a way that the bag may be rapidly opened after the lock is open, but not otherwise.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the mouth of a mail-bag, the body and bottom of the bag being cut away in this representation. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the metallic hook and socket. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the mouth of the bag through the fastenings.

A is the top part or mouth of the body of the mail-bag, and B is the closing-flap to cover the mouth. 0 is the fastening-strap, which passes over the flap B when the latter is closed, the end of the strap having the customary socket or hasp D to fit over the staple E attached to the mail bag, and through which the padlock is passed above the hasp D. The flap B is also provided with an aperture, F, to tit over this staple. As a fastenin g for the strap throughout its entire length or the full width of the bag, which shall se-. cure the flap B against the possibility of abstraction of letters from the bag, I provide the following: A series of sockets, G, are secured to the mouth of the bag in the manner shown, which pass through perforations b in the flap when the latter is closed. The sock ets G are formed with bars 1 across them, as shown. To the strap O I attach a series of plates, H, corresponding in number to the sockets G. These plates are provided with projecting hooks h, which engage with the bars 9, in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 3, when the mouth of the bag is fastened.

To attach the hooks after the flap Bis closed it is necessary that they shall be hooked over bars 9 separately and in regular succession, commencing at the point farthest removed from the lock, and after all have been hooked and the lock secured the mouth of the bag is proof against any attempt to open or to partially open it without destroying the bag.

The fastening admits of convenient and rapid opening, as when the lock is detached the entire series of hooks may be detached from the bars and sockets by a single or uninterrupted sweep of the strap O backward.

It is obvious that the construction of the barred sockets or the hook-fastenings may be modified in various ways without departing from the principle of construction essential to the invention, and the mail-bag may be of any preferred construction.

I claim For a mail-bag or analogous use, the barred sockets G and hooks H, connected and operating substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand. 7

HENRY GROSS.

Witnesses O. G. How, N. ROFF. 

